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Watts launches African-American channel

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J.C. Watts was an Oklahoma Republican lawmaker from 1995 to 2002, eventually rising to chairman of the Republican Conference.
AP Photo

“There’s a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports,” said J.C. Watts, the former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, who is switching gears from a newsmaker to a newsman. With the help of Comcast and DishNet, Watts plans to launch the first cable channel dedicated to the African-American perspective. (The only channels dedicated to African-American audiences today are BET and TV One, both of which have an entertainment focus.) The Black Television News Channel is scheduled to launch in early 2009. Just in time to inaugurate the first black president?

“Political news is just one facet of American life,” said Watts, who added that the channel will not have a partisan bent. So don’t worry — he has no plans to become the black Rupert Murdoch.

Q: Why a news channel?

A: I guess probably in my time in politics, it continued to be affirmed to me that the African-American community, despite being subscription television’s most valuable customers, they are very underserved by cable and satellite television programming options. The African-American community is, I think, news-starved and underserved. You’ve got about 70 successful Hispanic channels. We think we are meeting a need.

Q: What type of programming will the BTNC have?

A: We’ll provide about 16 hours of original news coverage, nonpartisan commentary, information, educational programs that I think represent a diverse African-American viewpoint. When you look at cable, you see African-American faces, but you don’t see African-American news.

A: I think there’s more news than — obviously, Barack Obama is news. Red, yellow, brown, black or white, what he is doing is news. Now, if he becomes president, then that surely would provide a lot of content, but I think news is more than presidential elections or the war in Iraq.

Q: So then how would the channel handle today’s news differently than CNN does?

A: Obviously there’s Katrina, there’s Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright, but I think with Rev. Wright, there was a perspective never told even in that. It would have been easy to listen to the news coverage on Rev. Wright and say that all African-American churches are like that. It’s a different culture. When you get things like that in politics, it’s often difficult to make sense out of them, but I do think there was a perspective there [that] was overlooked.

Q: What else is African-American news?

A: I think the Tuskegee experiment. That’s something that we hear a lot about, but you never have any news organizations peel the onion. There’s a lot of things out there in terms of investigative reporting that can be health-related, education-related, economically related. But the fact is the African-American community, by and large, has been left out of the dialogue.

Q: What would your role be at the organization?

A: I think the mission for us — BTNC — is to create a venue that the African-American community, or anybody for that part, that they can come to a certain venue and get reliable, credible information and resources. It hasn’t been determined yet what my role would be, other than I know I will be involved in making sure that we stay true to that mission, to that cause. You won’t see me trying to manage a news channel.

Readers' Comments (39)

I am a black female professional. I will be watching with peeled eyes and some tepidation. I hope that this is not another arm of the Fox News Channel. I am just not sure about this one. I guess I will have to wait and see.

I am a black female professional. I will be watching with peeled eyes and some tepidation. I hope that this is not another arm of the Fox News Channel.

I am not a black female professional but then again that has nothing to do with anything. Lina, I take it you don't like Fox News Channel. Why? Is it because they are successful or is it because they don't tow the democrat party line like CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, PBS et. al.? Is it because Fox will challenge the statements from democrats and republicans alike instead of letting them get away with regurgitating party talking points. If you haven't noticed, the network news broadcasts have been hemoraging viewers for sometime now. The major newspapers are losing subscribers faster than the rise in oil prices. There is a reason for this. People are tired of the spoon-fed nature and the injection of opinion disguised as news. We are tired of being patronized and looked upon as being too stupid to make up our own minds on the issues of the day. Even Fox News is guilty of this, just not nearly as bad as the rest of the MSM. Maybe that's the reason for their success.

If the evening news on American T.V. does not apply to spanish or black people, then the spanish and black people also need their own Societies as well. If they do not feel they are getting news from American T.V. Stations then they are certainly not getting what they need and deserve from American Neighborhoods or American Society either.

I believe the reason people feel excluded is because they exclude themselves and creating something race-related only helps to cement that ill fated sentiment.

If my Founding Fathers' were so wrong about E. Pluribus Unum, why do you live in America? I think Africa would treat you better than this racist America that cannot even bear to bring you the news.

p.s. PLEASE provide the source for this golden nugget of information that blacks are "THE MOST VALUABLE CUSTOMERS" of subscription T.V.

I find this particularly funny considering the fact I always heard how poor and oppressed black people are. Just how oppressed and poor can the black community be if they are "THE MOST VALUABLE CUSTOMERS"? They must be paying their bills on time if they are valued. Subscription T.V. is a luxury in the Dictionary of the Poor and the cable bill is certainly not paid before the rent, utilities like Electric, Gas, Water and of course, FOOD!!!

American Taxpayer, Why don't you crawl back under the rock from which you crawl from. How is this forefather that you speak of? You do not have more right than any other American, nor does your beliefs or thoughts take precedent over any other American, because you believe you were decesendent from the "founding fathers". Consequently, EVERY AMERICAN has blood, sweat and tears invested in this country, and as such deserve to be represented. If you don't like or believe in the freedoms and rights afforded by these same Forefathers to all Americans, then why don't YOU return to wherever you came. I'm quite sure give the reputation of our great Nation because of the current administration, you will not find a welcome home either!

American Taxpayer, Why don't you crawl back under the rock from which you crawl from. How is this forefather that you speak of? You do not have more right than any other American, nor does your beliefs or thoughts take precedent over any other American, because you believe you were decesendent from the "founding fathers". Consequently, EVERY AMERICAN has blood, sweat and tears invested in this country, and as such deserve to be represented. If you don't like or believe in the freedoms and rights afforded by these same Forefathers to all Americans, then why don't YOU return to wherever you came. I'm quite sure give the reputation of our great Nation because of the current administration, you will not find a welcome home either!

I am pleased that Watts is launching a well rounded African American channel. Most mainstream news portrays African Americans in a less than accurate light. The portrayals are often stereotypically based and very one dimensional, which has become even more evident in conjunction with the Obama campaign. I hope this channel will not simply piggyback off of mainstream news, if so it will be a waste.

JC WATTS MAKES REV SHARPTON REV JACKSON REV WRIGHT LOOK LIKE OLD HAS BEEN AND AIN'T NO MORE'S . I HOPE HE HAS VERY SMART COMMON SENSE BLACK MEN AND WOMEN LIKE THOMAS SOWELL , CLARANCE THOMAS , SHELBY AND MICHAEL STEELE , WALTER WILLIAMS , LARRY ELDER, BILL COSBY , C RICE TO NAME A FEW VERY GOOD AMERICANS AND LEAVES BET TO THE RAPPERS THUGS GANGS AND AMERICAN HATERS .

Not only do I like respect and admire JC Watt ......Many Whites would vote fot him as President or VP in a Heart beat as would Capitalist minded Blacks ......

Hint Hint ... John Mc Cain .

Wattt's is a Class Act and not a Phony !

He also was a great QB Football player (ALL AMERICAN ) at UNI OKLA and a well rounded man .

Need we forget he won many relections in very White religion OKLA ....... Oboma won in Black hate America RECENTLY and white folKs Church BLACK Chicago .... Big Difference ! Watts brings no Questional Bagage like Oboma does to this Country .

A a Democrat i think is GREAT! B/c BET is a joke and TV ONE IS LEFT WING CHANNEL. IF HE CAN BRING A BALANCE CHANNEL LIKE FOX THEN I THINK IT WILL BE A SUCCESS. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE LARRY ELDERS AT 8PM HAVING A SHOW LIKE O'REILLY AND JUAN WILLIAMS ON AT 9PM. EST THAT WOULD BE THE TICKET. EVERY BLACK PERSON SHOULD READ THERE BOOKS. I LOVE WATCHING THEM. I WILL NOT TELL YOU WHAT COLOR I AM B/C IT DOES NOT MATTER.

You really don't like black peple do you? Is it sexual envy? Maybe you lost your job due to ignorance? Alchoholism? Lack of education? Sounds like you really should be mad at the white college elites who are the real source of your anger.

Kudos to previous Congressman J.C. Watts for his latest business venture the imminent launch of an all Black cable news network hesitantly called Black Television News Channel. Comcast has standard to cover the network in several cities Washington DC, Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago. There were several triggers for the Watts choice not the least of which was the preacher Wright and Barack Obama story which the media spun out of control.

As someone that lives in what used to be Watt's district all I can say is watch out for him. He went belly up on several federal housing deals before he decided the best way to get money off the gov't was to run for congress as an ex OU quarterback. You would have to live in Oklahoma to understand how much weight that carries. He's a "preacher" and a fraud as far as I'm concerned.

CNN has turned into a "political TMZ", FOX NEWS with that Sean Hannity and OReilly are sickning, self-righteous hypocrites and BET is a low-grade MTV devoid of any news reporting. I commend JC WATTS for at least reckognizing that there's another perspective out there, a perception of reality that is just as real as any one elses. The black community is not all monolithic in it's thinking and I am open to the idea of a "BTNC". Hey, it can't be worse than what's already out there.

Sorry, I served my country honorably for ten years, pay my taxes and for generations my family has toiled this land for free, I'm not going no where buddy. I have every right to voice my opinions and if you don't like it go back to where you came from...uh, do you even know where that is?

ReCon USMC are you mis-informed! 'Ole J.C. has kids out of wed lock, had defrauded the gov't on housing deals, and his own father ran for Labor Comm. here in Oklahoma and said J.C. wasn't to be trusted. Please read up on the guy before you go singing his praises here...you don't know what you are talking about.

Hondo...forget the jibba jabba that you are talking about FOX news is biased, racially motivated and just plain STINKS, that is unless you identify with them. So , you are the one to know the answer to that quiestion.. So save your breath and lengthy retoric. FOX is what it is.

Think that J. C. Watt's news channel is super!! Totally agree with his motivation and objectives. Believe that his effort will result in greater serious discourse than what we have experienced with some of the current day spokespeople of Black Americans. Just hope that he will feature Bill Cosby, and Judge Marvin Arrington (Atlanta, Georgia) frequently. These are two great role models who have been extremely successful -- and, are not afraid to attempt to better our young people!